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Press Complaints Commission to close in wake of phone-hacking scandal | Media | The Guardian 11/03/2012 22:55 Printing sponsored by: Press Complaints Commission to close in wake of phone-hacking scandal Media watchdog will be replaced by transitional body until replacement is set up after Leveson inquiry Lisa OCarroll guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 March 2012 10.59 GMT larger | smaller Article history The PCC chairman, Lord Hunt, says the parts of the self-regulatory body that have worked will be retained. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian The Press Complaints Commission is to be shut down after 21 years, closing one of the most controversial chapters in the history of self regulation of the UK newspaper industry. The watchdog, which was fatally wounded by its response to the phone-hacking scandal, has confirmed that it will formally close and be replaced with a transitional body which will take charge of press regulation until a new system is set up in the wake of the Leveson inquiry. The long-term replacement for the PCC is not expected to be up and running for at least a year and may not be in place until 2014 if statutes are needed for a proposed arbitration unit offering a libel resolution service. In the meantime the newspaper industry has decided that closing the existing self- regulatory body will offer the press a clean break from the past and an opportunity to regain the confidence of the public. An accelerated shutdown of the PCC was agreed earlier this year and formally approved at a meeting of the commission on Wednesday. The PCC chairman, Lord Hunt, told Sky News at the end of February that a decision in principle to move to a new body had been taken. "So were very much now on the front foot and listening to all sides and determined tohttp://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/mar/08/press-complaints-commission-close-phone-hacking/print Page 1 of 3